Rail Trail Friends progress

As you may have already heard, the Friends of the Rail Trail (FORT) is thrilled to be 1 of but 8 groups to have been awarded a capacity building grant from Parks & Trails New York, out of 76 applications from 41 counties throughout the state!

FORT will receive $2,000 for printing and mailing/distribution of a membership and project information brochure to promote and engage community volunteer and financial support. A reminder of what FORT is: The Friends of the Rail Trail is a new committee of the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy (MHLC), and is dedicated to supporting and promoting the Albany County Rail Trail, and assuring its enjoyment by residents and visitors of all ages. The proposed Albany County Rail Trail will span 9 miles between Albany and Voorheesville.

Our January meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Wed., January 28th. If you would like to attend, or want more information about FORT or are interested in volunteering, please email me at RailTrailFriends@gmail.com

This is great news- We are looking forward to the rail-trail, it will be a great benefit to the area. We live on Hudson Ave, facing the trail, and have been supporters of the idea since its first proposal a dozen years ago. A citizens’ “friends” group is important and I’m glad to see it get the recognition and financial support it needs to get off the ground.

Having lived near other rail trails in Massachusetts, I know what a wonderful resource they are for a community on numerous levels. Not only do they provide recreational and green transportation opportunities, they help boost local businesses along the corridor. I look forward to helping support a terrific asset for the town. This is something we have been anticipating since we moved in to town 10 years ago.

I believe cycling to be by far the best commuting alternative. As Dan Rain has said, it’s quick to get to Albany from Delmar by bike, and this rail trail will make it safer and even easier. Additionally, we’re powered by PB&J sandwiches and are improving our health, compared to sitting in a car and burning gas and polluting.

As we begin a new journey with President Obama so too we look to a greener future for people of Albany, Bethlehem, and New Scotland. The rail trail can be a vital part of our lives, contributing to our health and recreation. And imagine less auto traffic if people will use the rail trail to commute to work.
I encourage everyone to ride or walk on the rail trails in Pittsfield, Mass., and Northampton, near Amherst, Mass. in the Spring to see how many people enjoy the friendliness of users and the incredible scenery. Our rail trail can be just as good.

I cant wait either, it is so flat, I’ll be able to ride a segway down to work every day. Can we put lights on the trail so I can ride back home from work? I have a HID light on my bike that will really light up the night. Finally, the kids will have somewhere to legally ride their skateboards, maybe can put some park-like stops along the way? What is this going to cost anyway? Now instead of 10,000 vehicles a day going down Delaware Avenue there may only be 9,800.

For a long time, the unused rail in Voorheesville laid lonely and quiet as if it’s useful years had long since past. I would think about it every time my car crossed its path and would continue to ponder it well down the road. Now, with the land purchased and plans well underway to revitalize this lanquid space, residents of of Voorheesville are excited about the prospect of the Trail and what it means to a place known for it’s railways. I believe that once this project gets started in earnest, residents from Voorheesville to Albany will be on board to make it safe & successful.

We used to live near the bike path (a rails to trails program)in Westchester county and we as well as many others used it extensively. In an area where people kept to themselves, the trail brought families outside and there were always knots of people of all sizes and shapes from the neighborhood catching up after a long winter, swapping stories, enjoying the fresh air, stretching, learning to ride, and reconnecting. Yes, the trail is like manna from heaven for those who commutes by bike from Voorheesville to Albany but this new trail is about bringing communities closer together.

As the other posts have stated I too am very interested in using this trail once it becomes a reality. I live near the old Blue Cross bldg in Slingerlands and it will be a short hop over to the trail continuing westbound to Voorheesville and work. I am also looking at getting out this spring and summer to enjoy the fresh air and possibly helping to clear the current trail for usage. I have traveled throughout the northeast and have witnessed the popularity of rail/trails and now am looking forward to one in my backyard.

We are so pleased to see progress towards construction of the rail trail and look forward to the day when we, our family and friends can take advantage of the trail for walking, running and cycling. Above all, we look forward to the positive impact the trail will have on our communities as it brings people together in ways that are healthy for them, for the local economy and for the environment.

Hooray for the rail trail! I think the trail will help in numerous ways to enhance community: offering recreational space unlike anything else in town, providing a safe option for non-car commuting, making a “slow lane” for children to get around town.

To #14, Proud Bethlehem Resident:
There are many ways the rail trail will help our economy and improve our lives.
1. It will provide a safe, convenient place to cycle, skate, jog, ski and walk. This will hopefully encourage folks who don’t like to exercise in traffic or who dislike gym workouts to exercise more often. This is especially important in this time when obesity is running rampant and many people’s only idea of sports is rooting for their favorite teams on TV. You’re not one of those people, are you, Proud Bethlehem Resident?
2. This rail trail represents our community’s contribution to making the country healthier, and may, in the long run, save tax dollars because healthier people are less of a strain on the healthcare system.
3. This rail trail is a small but significant alternative to commuting into Albany. Cycling is the most efficient way to travel, burns no fuel, and is good for you.
4. The rail trail will provide an easy walk or cycle to the Hannaford Plaza. An inexpensive bicycle trailer can carry two small kids or a week’s worth of groceries. Imagine not having to start your car to go shopping. It really works, I do it all the time, and this rail trail will make it safer and easier.
5. The rail trail will provide us an easy way to get down to four corners, benefiting the economy by supporting all those excellent local businesses.
6. I won’t let my kids bike down Delaware Ave because of the busy traffic, but the rail trail would enable them to get down to four corners, the library, or even to the stores in the Tollgate Ice Cream area, including the Deli, and Mangia restaurants, without worries of traffic. This will benefit the economy AND improve our lives.
7. We’ll be getting to know our fellow Bethlehem residents again. In these days when people drive everywhere, we’ve lost the chance for human contact, and meeting as we enjoy the rail trail will provide that again.

Right on #15, This trail will not only benefit “our economy” “our lives” and “our fellow Bethlehem Residents”, but it will benefit the entire County! The trail will open up a green tourism corridor from the hudson river right into the heart of Bethlehem and allow us to take full benefit of the envisioned riverfront based tourism draw.
The trail will connect to the corning preserve so that people from a much larger area will be able to visit the Town. College students will have a route to bicycle all the way to HVCC when Troy completes their planned connection to the riverfront trail. Also the Hudson Mohawk trail system will be connected. It would be nice to even have a connection to the States Five Rivers park in Delmar. The trail will offer a simple “Get outdoors” recreational opportunity to kids who need it the most, as an alternative to sitting in front of the TV. The County and City of Albany need to make full use of the trail to provide recreational activity to inner city kids, who have the least opportunity.

Now if we can only come up with 9 miles of pavement that someone else will pay for and maintain? Grants are free money!

FINNALLY ….As a long time cyclist and Rail Train supporter I’ve ridden trails from cost to coast, always wishing there was a trail within riding (not driving) distance from my home in V’Ville. This trail will not only impove the lives of all trail users but will improeve the quality of life (not to mention adjacent property values) for everyone in the area. The more people on these trails, the fewer people in cars. We’ll all be better off.

Im concerned about our safety. They just convicted the murderer in the Gloversville rail trail stabbing. There have been numerous rapes on the Hudson/Mohawk path. Could that happen here? Maybe our user fees could pay for a county sheriff patrol.

I’m sort of neutral on the rail trail, but it’s good to see all the support for the trail along the old D&H line. And I do think that it’s a worthwhile project.

Enjoyed taking the kids, when they were younger, for outings on various old rail/canal trails around the Capitol District.

Yes, TR, those things could happen here, but they could happen most anyplace where there is more than one person present.

I think that nominal user fees would take a l-o-n-g time to pay for the costs associated with the trail; but then, maybe I grossly under- estimate usage.

Going back a few years, can any one can give me a short answer to a related topic.
What ever happened to the abandoned rail line in the South Albany area of the town? Wasn’t that proposed to have been turned into a recreation trail, too? Does the town, county or RR own that right of way?

Experience with other trails has shown that crime usually goes down when an abandoned rail line is converted to a trail. Now, people can go up and down the corridor without being observed. When the trail is finished and people are using it, illegitimate uses will be discouraged.

I found these quotes in a study on the public safety records of 372 trails around the country:

“The trail has not caused any increase in the
amount of crimes reported and the few reported
incidents are minor in nature…We have found
that the trail brings in so many people that it
has actually led to a decrease in problems we
formerly encountered such as underage
drinking along the river banks. The increased
presence of people on the trail has contributed to
this problem being reduced.”

“Rail Trails are not crime-free. No place
on earth can make that claim. However,
when compared to the communities in
which they exist, compared to highways
and parking lots, and compared to many
other public and private places, rail-trails
have an excellent public safety record.”